Tusk to visit Brussels on mission to unlock Poland’s frozen EU funds

Donald Tusk – who hopes to form a new government after Sunday’s elections gave the opposition a combined parliamentary majority – will travel to Brussels next week for talks on unblocking billions of euros in EU funds that have been frozen over rule-of-law concerns under the current government

Opposition leader Donald Tusk, who is the most likely candidate to become prime minister in Poland’s new government, will travel to Brussels next week for talks on unlocking billions of euros in EU funds that have been frozen over rule-of-law concerns under the current government.

“Donald Tusk will be in Brussels next week, meeting with the leaders of European countries,” said Borys Budka, head of the parliamentary caucus of Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO), quoted by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

“It is normal that from day one we are doing everything to return Poland’s position in the international arena to its rightful place,” he added. “And fortunately, [Tusk] is a person who guarantees the restoration of very good relations with the EU and our partners.”

Budka noted that Tusk was likely to visit Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday. On the latter of those days, national leaders – including from Poland’s current government – will be gathering for a European Council summit.

“These will be talks at the highest level,” added Budka, who said that Tusk’s “contacts and experience as [the former] head of the European Council are invaluable in such a situation”.

But what is most important, said Budka, “is the great trust that Europe has in the democratic opposition party”. He noted that, “when it comes to issues of the rule of law and the implementation of milestones [agreed with Brussels], this is one of the basic demands that united the opposition”.

“If President [Andrzej Duda] does not interfere with this, one of the first bills that will reach his desk will be a law that fixes the issue of justice and restores the rule of law in Poland,” declared Budka.

At Sunday’s elections, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party finished first, with 35% of the vote. However, it won only 194 seats in the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament. That is well short of a majority in the 460-seat chamber.

Given that all other political groups have ruled out a coalition with PiS, that leaves three opposition groups – Tusk’s centrist KO, the centre-right Third Way (Trzecia Droga), and The Left – as the only apparently viable option to establish a new government.

The trio, who together have a comfortable majority of 248 seats, have made clear they want to form a coalition. However, the decision as to which group will get the first shot at creating a government is up to Duda, a PiS ally. He will meet all parliamentary groups individually for talks next week.

Figures from PiS and its supporters have in recent days noted that, during the election campaign, Tusk pledged to “go and unlock the [frozen EU] money the day after the elections, the day after victory”. They have mocked Tusk for already breaking that promise.

However, speaking on Monday – the day after the elections – senior KO figure Katarzyna Lubnauer told Radio Zet that Tusk’s declaration had been a “metaphor”. In a further interview with broadcaster RMF today, Lubnauer noted that only the government can submit a request for payment of the funds.

“This is yet another argument for Andrzej Duda to appoint Donald Tusk [as prime minister] as soon as possible and not to play for time,” she added. “If he were to appoint Donald Tusk immediately, we would immediately have a stable government in parliament.”

By contrast, if the president gives PiS the first opportunity to create a government – which it appears certain to be unable to do – that would mean the opposition would have to wait until December to take power, she noted. Traditionally, the party that wins elections is given the first chance to form a government.

Meanwhile, Andrzej Domański, a newly elected KO MP and the architect of its economic programme, told Radio Zet this morning that informal talks with Brussels “are already underway” about unlocking the frozen funds “as soon as possible”.

Brussels has been withholding almost €36 billion from the EU’s post-pandemic recovery funds from Poland, in particular due to concerns over judicial independence.

Last year, it agreed a series of “milestones” with the Polish government in order to unlock the money. But the European Commission says that Warsaw has so far failed to meet them all. PiS, however, argues that the EU was withholding the funds for political reasons, including to help the opposition come to power.

Poland’s main opposition parties have consistently opposed the PiS government’s overhaul of the judiciary, which a range of international organisations and domestic and European courts have found to violate the rule of law.

Last year, the opposition jointly signed an agreement listing measures to roll back the government’s judicial policies and end the “devastating conflict” with the EU.

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Main image credit: European Union 2019 – Source: EP (under CC BY 2.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.